UK Law Articles
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The Times
April 15 1998
Glut of law graduates see career chances fall
BY FRANCES GIBB
LEGAL CORRESPONDENT
COMPETITION for places at the Bar is now so intense that fewer than 3 per cent of students aspiring to be lawyers will make it as barristers, according to the Bar Council's annual report.
Tens of thousands of students each year are graduating with law degrees or completing the one-year conversion course for non-law graduates. Only a tiny number will be able to obtain a training place within the profession. At the Bar, many who train will be unable to find a permanent seat in chambers.
The Bar offers some 600 tenancies, or permament seats, and about 750 pupillages. Robert Owen, QC, last year's Bar Chairman, writes in the annual report: "The figures remain worrying. The number of law graduates continues to rise. Less than 3 per cent of those qualifying with a law degree or the common professional examination will go on to obtain a tenancy."
It is vital, he says, that students are made aware of the position. With the Law Society and the Universities Careers Service, the Bar has set up a project to produce information to send out to undergraduates. The Bar's education and training committee is producing information on alternative careers for those who fail to obtain a pupillage or tenancy.
